Rädler/Huber celebrate

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Katharina Huber (right) and Arianne Rädler celebrate the gold medal.(Bild: Sepp Pail)

One day after Vincent Kriechmayr/Manuel Feller won silver in the men's team combined, Ariane Rädler and Katharina Huber went one better at the Winter Olympics in Italy. The Austrians sensationally won the women's team combined in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Tuesday. The ÖSV duo finished 0.05 seconds ahead of Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann/Emma Aicher and 0.25 seconds ahead of the US team of Jacqueline Wiles/Paula Moltzan.

This is the first Olympic gold for the ÖSV women since Anna Fenninger's triumph in the super-G in Sochi in 2014 and the second gold medal for the Austrian team in Italy after snowboarder Benjamin Karl. After four days of competition, the ÖOC now has two gold and three silver medals at the Games in Milan and Cortina.

Team 95 strikes
'Team 95', as the duo from Vorarlberg and Lower Austria called themselves due to their shared birth year of 1995, was in second place after the downhill. "I think I had a good downhill run, and then Kathi, I just had a good feeling. She skied the slalom so well. I was so nervous, it was unbelievable. I'm so happy, it's so cool," said Rädler, who was only 0.06 seconds slower than Olympic champion Breezy Johnson.

"I still can't believe it."
In the subsequent slalom, Huber kept her nerve in a duel with first Aicher and then superstar Mikaela Shiffrin. The 30-year-old from Lower Austria finished ahead of the German duo, for whom Aicher, who came second in the downhill, competed in the slalom. Shiffrin failed to maintain Johnson's half-time lead, and the favored duo missed out on a medal by 0.06 seconds with the 15th fastest time in the slalom. "It's indescribable. I was extremely nervous. Ari skied such an amazing downhill, she skied so well. I just told myself: 'Just ski as well as you can.' I still can't believe that it turned out this way and that we are Olympic champions today," said Huber in an interview with ORF.

Huber already has an Olympic gold medal at home; she was a member of the successful mixed parallel team in Beijing in 2022, but did not compete. For Rädler, a dream came true that she had already begun to doubt after many injuries. "I've been through a lot, and at one point, the dream (of the Olympics) was gone. I fought my way back again and again. That makes it all the more wonderful that it worked out. And with Kathi. We've known each other for so long. We raced together when we were still in school. It's just cool – a dream team," explained the Vorarlberg native.

Hütter/Truppe in fifth place
Cornelia Hütter and Katharina Truppe were the second-best ÖSV duo, finishing fifth with a deficit of 0.61 seconds. They were delighted for their teammates. "It was really cool to watch. Too bad for us, but gold for Austria," said Hütter. "Yes, really awesome. I'm really happy for the two of them. They deserve it. They really combined gold," said Truppe, who went into the slalom in fifth place. "I have to say, I just didn't have the nerves. I already knew during the run that I wasn't going to be able to pick up speed," she explained. Nina Ortlieb/Katharina Gallhuber finished seventh (+0.97), Mirjam Puchner/Lisa Hörhager finished 14th (+2.51).

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Petra Vlhova made her comeback after a two-year injury break. The 31-time World Cup winner from Slovakia suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in January 2024 and had to undergo further surgery in March 2025. Her comeback lasted only a few seconds, as she straddled a gate in the slalom, but she will be able to compete again in the special slalom on February 18.